Nicki Elson's Not-So-Deep Thoughts

I was recently blessed to meet firecracker extraordinaire, Midian Sosa, when she attended the #Omnilicious Twitter party a few months ago. She devours books daily and shares her thoughts in reviews---and I've found them to be some of the most energetic, flat-out-honest, and fun reviews around. And noooow, she's started a Twitter account dedicated to her reviews, so I've invited her over to give you TEN good reasons to follow her there. Take it away, Midian:    From Midian: Since I decided to be awesome and open a Twitter account to share reviews, I am going to give 10 packages of eBooks that will make y’all very happy! It’s very simple, just follow @LndReviews on Twitter and add and follow Midian Sosa on Goodreads ! Feel free to mention/leave a post letting me know you did it and you get more chances of winning!  Winners will be announced after the page gets to the 500 followers mark but the more, the merrier! If by any chance you win a package of books yo...

There is going to be DOUBLE excitement in the blogosphere this coming Monday, July 29, when the cover for Siv Maria Ottem's upcoming novel, Secrets of the Ash Tree , is revealed. Not only is it always exciting to see a brand new cover, this particular one has been designed by artist Michael Di Gesu. Yes, our Michael Di Gesu!  I'm just dying to see what artist & author have cooked up together, and I'm sure you are too, so tie a string around your finger or whatever you've got to do to remind yourself to stop by Micheal's In Time... blog and Siv's Been there, done that. blog on Monday. See you there! If you're looking for something to do in the meantime, you have until tomorrow to enter the super awesome LOADED Kindle Fire HD giveaway in the #SizzlingSummerEvent . To enter and/or read the silly guest post I did for the event, just click on the nifty Kindle below. And don't forget that WRiTE Club is going strong over at D.L. Hammons' Cr...

The ladies of YA Bound have definitely picked the right name for this giveaway---the temps are sizzling in the Chicago area these days. How about by you? (Eh, cancel what I said about sizzling temps in Chicago---it's friggin freezing!) The other thing sizzling about this giveaway is that you have the chance to win one of two loaded Kindle Fire HDs. One comes loaded with hot YA reads and the other comes loaded with steamy NA & Adult reads. (contest open through July 27 to U.S. residents) To get to the entry form, click on either of the images below to visit a hosting blog; hop around to all the participating book review blogs  to meet the featured authors. I'll be at I Heart YA Books , Book Nerd Paradise , and The Book Lover's Report  asking for a little help in defining my author platform---and sharing a couple excerpts. ;) Have fun & good luck! Titles on the NA/Adult Kindle Fire HD: Titles on the YA Kindle Fire HD:

Quest #1; Stop #8 This week, my blog is a featured stop in the NAmazing Adventure, a blog event featuring over 60 New Adult authors + prize packs that include ARCs, signed books, gift cards, swag, and more! There are six legs in this journey---during each, you'll travel through a series of blogs, picking up info on great NA reads, and then take a simple quiz at the end. You can get a quest map for the overall NAmazing Adventure at NA Alley , home of our amazing tour guides. Now, let's hit the trail! THREE DAVES by Nicki Elson: Jennifer Whitney was the last American virgin. At least that’s what she felt like in 1986 as she began her sophomore year at Central Illinois University. She was proud of her decision to wait for the right guy, and yet she was getting restless. It seemed like everyone around her was doing it... and having fun doing it, too. She didn’t want to become the campus slut or anything, but surely there was a difference between a trashy skank and a nice ...

Happy Friday, everyone!  Just want to let you know that I'm over at the New Adult Book Club at Goodreads with a  Q&A that will be open all weekend . Below is my intro. If it sparks any questions or comments at all, please click it & head over to the forum to drop me a line.  I'd love it if you'd Tweet about it. Here'a a handy-dandy Tweetable: Visit @NickiElson3D at the NA Book Club & get a prize just for asking a question. http://ow.ly/mUz5I  Anyone who stops by w/ a question or comment will get a pdf of the unpublished  Three Daves  Appendix (3 days told from the guy's POV). And on Monday I'll randomly choose one question-asker to win an eCollection of my two novels & short single. 

Today's the day! Tara Tyler 's techno-thriller, Pop Travel , is now available at Amazon !!!  (more links coming soon) Congratulations, Tara. I'm absolutely thrilled for you and cannot wait to join P.I. Cooper on his adventure. Lucky me gets to host the lovely debut author on release day, and because I know she has tons going on, I only asked her one simple question... Me: If you had to pick one song that best captures the essence of Pop Travel, what would it be and why? Tara T: A while back, I did a blogfest that asked, What if your book became a movie… We were supposed to pick movie stars and a theme song. For my song, I chose "New Low" by Middle Class Rut. It's perfect for Cooper. It has a futuristic sound and is about a guy who's had a rough time and is cynical about it. But I am also excited to share that my eldest son read Pop Travel and did a report on it for school – he chose 10 songs for a soundtrack!  Here's his pla...

Hola, fellow members of the Insecure Writer's Support Group , founded by the marvelous Alex J. Cavanaugh . A frequent topic in the group is dealing with negative feedback on our writing, whether it be via reviews, crit groups, or online forums. It seems we all agree that constructive criticism is rather like a visit to the dentist. It might hurt, but in the end we recognize that we're better off for it and will even come back for more. And then there is the feedback that's just plain mean. This is like...like walking innocently down the sidewalk and having a random jogger punch you in the face. By the time you recover enough to ask why, the jogger has crossed the street and disappeared from your vision (this actually happened to my brother once, btw). It hurts, you're bruised, and you're left with no explanation as to what the jerk's problem was. Nothing good comes from this because there is no meaning in the meanness. All we can do is get up, shake it off, ...